[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5332 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5332
To appropriate amounts to the Disaster Loans Program Account, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 14, 2024
Mr. Tillis (for himself, Mr. Budd, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Warner, Mr.
Heinrich, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, and Ms. Ernst) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To appropriate amounts to the Disaster Loans Program Account, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Restoring an Economic Lifeline with
Immediate Emergency Funding Act'' or the ``RELIEF Act''.
SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DISASTER LOANS.
(a) Direct Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is appropriated, out of amounts in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for an additional
amount for ``Disaster Loans Program Account'' for fiscal year
2025 for the cost of direct loans authorized by section 7(b) of
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), $810,000,000, to
remain available until expended, of which--
(A) $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ``Office of
Inspector General'' for audits and reviews of disaster
loans and the disaster loan programs; and
(B) $250,000,000 may be transferred to ``Salaries
and Expenses'' for administrative expenses to carry out
the disaster loan program authorized by such section
7(b).
(2) Prohibition.--None of the funds appropriated under
paragraph (1) may be used for indirect administrative expenses.
(3) Emergency designation.--
(A) In general.--The amounts provided by this
subsection are designated as an emergency requirement
pursuant to section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go
Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)).
(B) Designation in house and senate.--This
subsection is designated as being for an emergency
requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con.
Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on
the budget for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation
establishing fiscal year 2025 budget enforcement in the
House of Representatives.
(b) Inspector General Review.--
(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
(A) the terms ``Administration'' and
``Administrator'' mean the Small Business
Administration and the Administrator thereof,
respectively;
(B) the term ``appropriate committees of Congress''
means the Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship and the Committee on Appropriations of
the Senate and the Committee on Small Business and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives;
(C) the term ``covered amounts'' means amounts made
available for the cost of direct loans authorized by
section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
636(b)); and
(D) the term ``Inspector General'' means the
Inspector General of the Administration.
(2) Review.--
(A) In general.--The Inspector General shall
conduct a review of the circumstances and the
underlying causes surrounding the funding shortfall
with respect to covered amounts, as described in the
letter from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. entitled
``Letter to Congress on Disaster Needs'', dated October
4, 2024, and the letter from the Administrator
submitted to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the
House of Representatives, dated October 10, 2024.
(B) Contents.--The review conducted under
subparagraph (A) shall include, with respect to the
funding shortfall described in that subparagraph--
(i) a comparison of monthly obligations of
covered amounts against projected obligations
of covered amounts;
(ii) an analysis of the accuracy of
projections and estimates related to projected
obligations of covered amounts;
(iii) the identification and description of
any internal controls in place to manage
covered amounts;
(iv) the identification of actions that the
Administration can take to improve the accuracy
of information submitted by the President under
section 1105(a) of title 31, United States
Code, with respect to the Administration,
prevent any future funding shortfall with
respect to any account of the Administration,
and improve the report submitted to the
appropriate committees of Congress under
section 12091(a) of the Small Business Disaster
Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2008 (15
U.S.C. 636k(a)); and
(v) any other matter determined relevant by
the Inspector General.
(C) Report on findings.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector
General shall submit to the appropriate committees of
Congress a report that contains the findings of the
review conducted under subparagraph (A).
(3) Reports on corrections.--The Administrator shall submit
to the appropriate committees of Congress--
(A) not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, a report detailing corrections
the Administration will make to improve forecasting,
data quality, and budget assumptions relating to budget
submissions relating to amounts made available for the
cost of direct loans authorized by section 7(b) of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and
(B) not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter
until the date that is 90 days after the date on which
all the corrections described in subparagraph (A) have
been implemented, a report--
(i) detailing the actions the
Administration has taken to implement the
corrections described in subparagraph (A); and
(ii) explaining how each action detailed
under clause (i) is directly related to
implementing 1 or more corrections described in
subparagraph (A).
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